Work out help?

kburd1982
kburd1982 Posts: 2
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all I am a very soon to be 30 year old male sitting here at 6-3 and 333 lbs. I am not a sedentary individual. I run my own buisness (welding, fabrication, and blacksmithing) and put in 60 plus hours a week. My work keeps me moving, climbing, pulling, and pushing all sorts of absurdly heavy objects. Over the last several months I have been reconfiguring my eating from what I want to what I need and greatly reducing my intakes. I was a consitent smoker (1/2 pack a day) for several years but havent smoked reguraly in about three years and at all in the last year. I was a very heavy drinker as well from 21 to 27 (1/5 of jack daniels or crown royal might last me 24 hours) Now I just drink a couple beers here and there maybe 4 to 10 on a heavy drinking week. So I came a long ways on those faults but in the proccess of getting away from that stuff My weight consitently climbed. I was 264 lbs on 8/4/07 and now am 333lbs. I want to get back to 260 range by 6/6/13 as it will be my 5 year wedding anniversary.
Exercise is going to have to be a big part of my weight lose. I dont really need to build anymore muscle as quite honestly I can move a house as it is now. I would just like to define all the muscle that I have. Right now it is covered with to much gross fat. I know I need cardio and tried to do some of the insanity stuff. Quite a bit to advanced for me but really like that style of routine. I have an elliptical but after a few days of riding it I get bored. I have tried watching tv doing it and listening to the radio but just doesnt cut it for me. I like the feel of total body involvement and love to get a big sweat on. (better like that since my shop is usually 100 plus during the summer) Exercising in the morning is probably better for me as once I get done in the evening I am generally whooped beyone belief.
So I am asking for advice what kind of cardio should a guy like me start out with doing. My goal is to one day be able to do a whole session of the insanity work out.

Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Firstly well done on the great changes you have made so far to your lifestyle!

    I would try going for a jog or run first thing in the morning, and see how that suits you. I like to have some music when I run to stop me getting bored.
  • Captain_Tightpants
    Captain_Tightpants Posts: 2,215 Member
    Couple of things -

    Consider lifting along with cardio. You won't build muscle mass so long as you're on a calorie deficit. Well, actually, at 333lbs you might build just a little, but not noticeably so. The reason you should consider lifting is that it will help you to minimize lean tissue loss while your body scavenges for energy from its various reserves. It sounds like your profession may have enabled you to build up a good set of muscles under the fat and the last thing you want to do is lose them as you diet.

    Don't rely too heavily on exercise for weight loss. Yes it adds to your caloric burn, but in the big picture, exercise is perhaps 20% of the equation. Diet is the other 80%.

    It's the beer that got you up there. I almost guarantee it. It's calorie dense, nutritionally empty and furthermore it has odd, as yet not fully understood, metabolic effects that hinder fat loss too. A pint every now and then won't hurt, but if you have a week where you sink ten as you mentioned, that's an extra 2000 cals right there - enough to cancel out a big portion of any weight loss attempts you are trying.

    For cardio that's not boring, consider getting out and about. Cycling, walking, climbing, kayaking etc. For even more fun, find an unusual active cardio-friendly hobby - my drug of choice is circus arts.

    Hope that helps, good luck!
  • seekingstrengthX2
    seekingstrengthX2 Posts: 771
    Exercising outside is always more interesting than being attached to a piece of gym equipment. Get up and go for a walk. Maybe eventually run a little. Have a bicycle? Get one if not. Any parks near you? Take a hike.

    Lastly....... major KUDOS for all you have accomplished so far!!!
  • premiumchilenita
    premiumchilenita Posts: 600 Member
    yes I agree with ^^^ go outside, constantly change your scenery, even if you are doing the same thing, in different scenery seems different, constantly change your exercise such as try walking, running, walking, jogging and so on. This way you will get puffed get the heart pumping but also sweat it out at a constant pace. Come back home and do some crunches, squats, push ups. Squats, pushups and lunges are great because they target more than one group of muscles at a time and you can consistently add to them to make them harder as you get fitter.
  • Discoveri
    Discoveri Posts: 435 Member
    Couple of things -

    Consider lifting along with cardio. You won't build muscle mass so long as you're on a calorie deficit. Well, actually, at 333lbs you might build just a little, but not noticeably so. The reason you should consider lifting is that it will help you to minimize lean tissue loss while your body scavenges for energy from its various reserves. It sounds like your profession may have enabled you to build up a good set of muscles under the fat and the last thing you want to do is lose them as you diet.

    Don't rely too heavily on exercise for weight loss. Yes it adds to your caloric burn, but in the big picture, exercise is perhaps 20% of the equation. Diet is the other 80%.

    It's the beer that got you up there. I almost guarantee it. It's calorie dense, nutritionally empty and furthermore it has odd, as yet not fully understood, metabolic effects that hinder fat loss too. A pint every now and then won't hurt, but if you have a week where you sink ten as you mentioned, that's an extra 2000 cals right there - enough to cancel out a big portion of any weight loss attempts you are trying.

    For cardio that's not boring, consider getting out and about. Cycling, walking, climbing, kayaking etc. For even more fun, find an unusual active cardio-friendly hobby - my drug of choice is circus arts.

    Hope that helps, good luck!

    ^All good advice. If you find that you get bored with the elliptical, you may enjoy a team or group activity. I play racquetball once a week and find that it is a great burn and the time just flies by. I also do a bootcamp class twice a week which focuses on cardio and strength exercises. Check out living social or groupon for deals on classes (no sense in paying full price for something you are not sure you would join). If you want to get into running check out the Couch 2 5K program. The program isn't too time consuming and you could definitely fit a run in before you go to work. Ditch the beers for a month and I bet you will see a big difference. Congrats on all your hard work so far!
  • brenkruss
    brenkruss Posts: 14 Member
    I would use all of these suggestions and see which activities can hold your attention, then include 2 or 3 of them into the routine. Someone mentioned how important what you eat is, and this will become even more true as you exercise. I know it is much easier for me to hit my food goals if I am exercising, because it is so miserable to go for a walk/run if you have eaten too much or not had enough water. Good luck. You can do it. People on here do it every day. So just believe in yourself.
  • themichaelf
    themichaelf Posts: 94
    hey man all good advice mentioned above me... i just wanted to throw in congrats on realizing that you need to get started. a guy your stature needs to be worried about several things and i am glad you are wanting to change. and we all know your bride of almost 5 years will love it too!

    just some things to start with.

    spread out your meals as you can. you need to start teaching your body small portions x 6. it's a good rule of thumb and you should start that now. you can eat the healthiest lunch and dinner, but if you didn't have anything in between, your body will store away.

    as far as workouts. for now i would hop on the treadmill for 30-45 mins at a brisk walk. it won't be hard to get your heartrate up in the 50-80% range and you would be burning calories like crazy if you can sustain that for 45mins.

    two great starts. if you get bored easy, don't go hardcore right away. you will end up sore and exhausted and will hate it then quit.

    i hope to see some results buddy
  • nml2011
    nml2011 Posts: 156 Member
    Strength training all the way... you will burn a ton more fat than just doing cardio and you will retain the muscle mass you have already.

    Keep protein high in your diet and a training plan based around heavy compound moves.

    If you want to do cardio then do it at the end of the strength training.

    260 is achievable in the time scale you have given yourself.
  • kburd1982
    kburd1982 Posts: 2
    Thanks for the advice everyone. I will try and start to incorporate more exercise activitys into my daily routines. Honestly when you are running your own buisness sometimes you just need to shut the door and go do something else for a while to clear your head. I am definatley going to start slow with exercise and focus on my dieting too. I have started with tons of exercise before and get to sore and then find it hard to work at a good pace all day.
    Somebody mentioned stature and that is part of the reason for the weight loss goal. I know with my current activity levels involved in my work that my body is not going to hold up well if I dont dumb this weight sooner than latter. My knees are already an issue. I read somewhere that for every lb you lose it is 4 less lbs of pressure on your knees. My knees need that badly.

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